Preventing the fall
by Nemesis13
Summary: Revan was no fool, he realized the Mandalorians were being manipulated but his best friend had already begun his fall to the dark side and his girlfriend could do nothing more then support him, recruiting the help of a young man living between the light and dark to protect the galaxy from his potential fall Revan's safeguard is all that keeps the light afire while the Jedi blunder
1. Chapter 1

Revan wiped the mud from his visor as he held his other hand against his trademark dented beskar'gam helm wincing as the ringing eventually faded, damn that artillery was zeroing in on them, glancing over to Meetra and Alek he made a few hand motions and the trio moved forward, weaving their way through the dense undergrowth towards the Mandalorian's dug in at the base of the mountain. The irony of this do or die assault was he couldn't even remember what the force forsaken name of this rock was, just another mudball in the outer rim the Mandies had taken so he was obligated to deny them. Sighing out loud he received a curious glance from his long time companion Alek and a knowing smirk from his best friend Meetra, the two of them had been fighting and...other things together for over a year now and to say that they understood how each other thoughts would be an understatement.

Approaching a clearing they force hopped between the limited cover and ended up in the remains of a civilian settlement, the denizens of which were strewn about the burned out buildings and bomb craters well on their way to rot. Sighing again they made their way around a wrecked lift vehicle and carefully proceeded up the hill, feeling the ground thumping from firing weaponry rather then impacts they glanced over the top. Yup, thats it, finding a good position to set up their equipment Revan turned to his friends,

"Sorry, just trying to remember what the hell this planet's name even was, sometimes I feel like all I'm doing is tainting myself with endless war rather then doing anything to actually put an end to it." He was saying this as he was assembling a boxy mechanism that he then hung across the lip of the crator they currently took shelter in, zooming in its camera he saw the mass of artillery cannons pounding his forces through the mists, the flashes of their barrels briefly illuminating the area. Locking in the coordinates he nodded to Meetra who attempted to contact their ship in orbit as Alek addressed his friend,

"Know what you mean Rev, this is what, the third little slimehole we arrived at too late in the past week? You saw those villagers they'd been dead for days we had no chance to save them, probably no one left alive on this planet thats not trying to kill us." Chuckling sadly he fingered the hilt of his lightsaber and continued, "and we would have been sacrificing countless troops to recover this worthless backwater for nothing if we hadn't felt the deaths through the force...pathetic...they want a stand up fight with the Jedi but their very actions prevent it." Nodding Reven glanced to Meetra as the black haired woman's almond shaped eyes narrowed in consternation as she fiddled with their comm gear, eventually he saw a flash of her brilliant white teeth as she gave her boyfriend a feral grin.

"Battlegroup one this is strike force Theta, connecting you to Theta actual," with that she switched the channel to Revan's helmet, nodding to her while sending a wave of affection her way he continued the message.

"This is Theta actual, all artillery positions are painted, have teams Beta, Gamma, and Zulu completed their missions?" There was a squelch of static before he got a reply conveying smug triumph,

"This is Karath, your people have every enemy position on the continent painted Theta, orders?" The three Jedi grinned to each other in anticipation, this part was always the most adrenaline inducing, keying the comm Revan said,

"Glass the bastards admiral," With a satisfied 'aye aye' they watched the horizon as hundreds of missiles and turbolaser blasts fell from orbit, their footing shook with the strength of a ground quake. After five minutes of continuous bombardment there wasn't a single sentient left on the planet that was not wearing the uniform of the Republic or wielding a lightsaber. Cackling Alek lit his blue blade and lifted it above is head in triumph, grinning to each other Revan and Meetra held hands as they called in for extraction.

"Third planet this week we arrived at too late...also the third planet we avenged."

* * *

Snapping awake Devon pulled his sweat soaked ebony hair from his eyes trying to catch his breath, after several failed moments he gave in to the panic attack and came back to reality five minutes later. Wiping the sweat and tears from his carefully trimmed beard he stumbled into the refresher and cleaned up, glancing at the chrono he winced,

"Dammit...I don't start my shift for another three hours...ugh," Realizing it would be another long day he dressed in his hideous orange and red Republic uniform but decided to be a smartass and threw his black trench coat over it, scooping up his pair of long swords and blasters he equipped them while heading to the sparing chamber. Upon arriving and seeing it empty he shucked his coat and pistols while drawing his blades, entering his custom stance he spent the next hour practicing his kata, in the middle of his battle daze he heard a refined voice interrupt him.

"Ahem, mind if I cut in? " Turning he saw a brunette girl...women? Cusp of womanhood anyhow, she had the assets anyway, she made forward and drew a double bladed staff from the wall. Nodding she then bowed towards him, he swapped his blades for practice ones, returning the bow he then attacked without warning, they traded blows for ten minutes strait all the time Devon felt he had the upper hand, at the last possible second she swung a blow that should have decapitated him but he simply dropped his left blade and grabbed the descending hilt. Grinning he performed a flourish that broke her grip and then intersected the blades across her neck like a pair of scissors,

"Good moves young one, but you rely too much on your opponent doing what you anticipate, chaos is the mother of all conflict love, never forget it." Still grinning Devon twirled her blade and handed it back to her, far from looking angry she looked...humbled, nodding to him she said,

"Bastila, Bastila Shan." Smiling he nodded back to her,

"Devon Halcyon, glad to meet you young miss you have much potential." Smiling ruefully she hung her blade back on the wall while glancing at the raven haired man,

"Trouble sleeping?" Grimacing he nodded as he hung up the practice blades and re-equipped his long swords.

"Yeah, nightmares past couple nights, keep having these crazy dreams about Jedi fighting Mandalorians, its...discomfiting, anyway miss...err..rather Bastila, I'll leave you be I'm going to try and get a couple more hours of rack time before my bunk mate fouls it up with ale sweat." Smiling he bowed again and left not seeing the young woman frown at his receding form.

* * *

A young man stood before him, his long brown hair blowing in the wind, the gorgeous blue skinned and white haired woman standing beside him looking guarded, Revan approached the pair removing his helm, the wind causing his sweat soaked locks to flutter.

"Zayne...I know you had a bit of a rocky relationship with my companion-" he interrupted Revan angry,

"You mean the attempted rape? Yeah, we kinda remember it...what do you want Revanchist?" Wincing he dropped his head and sighed,

"I...need your help, you see the council was not wrong, there is someone pulling the Mandalorian's strings, attempting to cause chaos, trying to make Jedi fall at their own provocation...its working...I feel my good friend Alek falling away from me, his heart hardening, Jarael experienced that first hand. My love Meetra is trying to hold the rest together but...its a losing battle." Sighing he pulled his black hair back behind his ears and shuddered a moment,

"Zayne...you've proven yourself more then resistant to the dark side, the force wants you alive and it wants you bloody neutral...I need that friend...I need to be able to delve into the dark places and have a grey inquisitor over my neck to cut me down if I stray and become that which I fight...will you do this for me?" The couple across him exchanged glances, Jarael then closed her eyes sadly and nodded.

"Ok Revan, for now we'll play your game and make sure you don't go off the deep end...but if you do-" Revan snapped his hand up and stated,

"You'll strike me down without hesitation...good...thank you...you have no idea how much I appreciate this Carrick...no idea at all.

* * *

Snapping back awake Devon rubbed his temples in consternation, why, why why in the fracking nine hells of Corellia was he dreaming about Revan of all people, about Jedi conspiracies...ugh. Standing up he realized that the artificial gravity was lower then normal, feeling a shudder through the decks he glanced out his window and saw a Sith armada firing on the Endar Spire.

"Oh...well shit..." Not hesitating he threw on his black trousers and his grey combat vest followed by his coat, as he was slapping his pistols into their hip holsters his hungover bunk mate stumbled in,

"You've got to wake up we...oh...well ok I guess you figured it out then?" Quirking an eyebrow then glancing to the window as a burning Sith interceptor slammed into their cruiser he turned back and nodded.

"Sith, yeah, lets get out of here." Nodding the blond man tried to fumble with the now auto locked door, rolling his eyes Devon pulled out his datapad and sliced the door in thirty seconds, ignoring the other man he rushed into the hallway in time to see a trio of his comrades felled by a Sith grenade. Sighing at the waste of life he drew a pistol in his left hand and a sword in his right as he charged forward, snapping off a trio of blasts he managed to kill two of the boarders before he reached them, swinging his sword he decapitated the survivor. Holstering his weapons he didn't notice Trask staring at him in shock while he was sorting through the dead soldiers ordinance,

"Nice, full powered thermal detonators, we can thoroughly muck things up with these!" Grinning they made their way through a few more minor skirmishes until they saw a lightsaber duel in action, eventually the Jedi woman won but the wall behind her exploded killing her. Sighing again Devon looted both her and the dead Sith's sabers, they might come in handy later. Eventually they made their way to the bridge and got a comm signal from the only surviving officer, a Carth Onasi, following his orders they approached a hall with two doors, the one on their right opened and a bald dark Jedi approached them sneering.

"Shit...ok I'll hold him off you get to the escape pod!" With that the hungover man charged at the fallen jedi with his flimsy sword, before the door shut Devon armed a thermal detonator keyed at full power and hurled it through the closing barrier. A handful of seconds later a massive explosion shook the deck as the door buckled in glowing cherry red,

"Or we could have done that and your stupid drunk self would still be alive, whatever." Moving on he made his way into a terminal room where he was able to reprogram a combat droid for undisciplined murder and then overload a power terminal to knock out the survivors. Finally making it to the Captain Onasi Devon snapped a smart salute and said,

"Permission to get the hell off this death trap sir?" Laughing Carth motioned for the last escape pod, they both dove in and fired away from the burning cruiser, the last thing he saw before he blacked out was the Hammerhead cruiser taking a full spread of torpedo's amidships and explode.


	2. Chapter 2

"Huh...well yet another unexpected twist, bummer" Zayne muttered as the Republic fleet jumped into normal space directly opposing Revan's amassed armada, sighing as he glared through the T-slit visor of his beskar'gam helm he turned to face the holo projection of the "Dark Lord of the Sith".

"Shit shit shit shit! How did they find us?! Why did they seek us out?! Ok ok calm down Rev...oh...hell, they're probably using that little tart's battle meditation, only reason they'd risk a task force this size. All right, Jarael?" The beatiful offshoot glanced at the projection as she donned her white armor, a direct counterpart to Zayne's black attire.

"Yes Revan?" Sighing he tapped in a few commands giving her access to all his data files,

"Take the battle plans, the intel, everything we have on the True Sith, you and Zayne are to take as much of the fleet as you can get through the blockade and take up formation around the Star Forge, I'm going to try and run interference" Scooping up his Sith Lord mask Revan commed Admiral Palleon,

"Yes my lord?" The red haired officer inquired, nodding at her he said,

"I'm ordering an evacuation of the Rejuvinator, Darth Karious and Ghost are in charge until I make way back to the fleet, the Republic will try and make a grab for me so I want all commands to be fed from my personal terminals so I can lead them on a merry chase, get going that's an order." After his commands had been followed Revan piloted his flagship towards a likely escape vector and was immediately set upon by a pack of Hammerhead light cruisers and star fighters, grimacing as his baby was was crippled by the pursuing Republic he sighed as the lights flickered and the engines died.

"And here we are" He muttered, glancing out the window he was able to see a great majority of his fleet make their escape although a small flotilla was heading his direction, recognizing his old friend Alek... rather Malek's flagship in the center he smiled a bit, guess he was still reliable to an extent. Hearing the door behind him open Revan turned around and cheerfully waved at the approaching group of Jedi,

"Hi, nice trap by the way, focusing your battle meditation on me rather then the fleet was cute, no way I could have run with that kind of power targeting me, my friend is kind of slaughtering your support vessels though so would you like to surrender now?" Glaring at the Sith the group of Jedi spread out watching him warily, a rather curvy young woman with a yellow blade pointed at him while saying,

"There's no way you can win Revan, surrender now," Cocking his head to the side in a distinctly 'Seriously?' motion he drew his red and violet sabers while rushing the group of Jedi, twirling his blades he fell into an Echani dueling stance forcing a man to his knees while bisecting his saber hilt, throwing his off hand blade behind his back the spinning blade did the same to a woman's saber staff. Switching to a mixed Mandalorian and Shii-Cho stance he pulled a similar move to two more Jedi while force pushing them against the far wall. Snorting derisively he was barely able to get out of the way as the cutie with the yellow saber dove at him.

"Nice!" Reven said cheerfully, spinning his blades she held her own for roughly thirty seconds strait which against the man who had taken the mantle of the Dark Lord was saying something, smiling in bemusement Revan dropped his red saber as he grabbed the woman's descending blade holding the energy shaft as if it was solid durasteel. Wrenching it from her grasp he spun the blade and caught the hilt in his open hand examining it casually, "Good craftsmanship, although I have to say your physique and fighting style would make better use of a saber staff, whats your name girl?" Snarling in rage the woman called his dropped saber to her hand and continued her charge while igniting the crimson blade,

"Bastilla Shan, and I will not be taken so lightly!" Still grinning beneath his mask he let her think she had the upper hand for a solid minute before he got bored and kicked her in the stomach sending her sprawling against the wall with her comrades.

"Well young miss I must say you have extreme talent, might want to keep that anger in check the whole dark side rot thing would ruin those pretty looks of yours, now if you don't mind I really need to be going, galactic corruption to uproot, idiot senators to murder, so on so...OH SHIT!" Eyes widening as the Leviathan opened fire on the Rejuvinator Revan threw himself between the explosions and the Jedi dropping a powerful force shield in place. With that impulsive decision being made searing pain tore through him as the deck and ceiling collapsed showering him with burning shards of metal. His vision and hearing began to fade as his blood drained onto the scorched deck, he saw Bastila's wide eyed face stare down at him in shock, whispering

"Why?"

* * *

Snapping awake Devon grasped his throbbing head in agony, rolling out of musty bed he disentangled his limbs from the sweat soaked sheets while trying to stumble for the refresher, the bearded man from the ship, Carth, rushed forward catching him as he fell,

"Whoa whoa whoa friend hold on there, you took a nasty hit to the head you're gonna have to take it easy." The mans calm voice helped Devon focus as his vision finally cleared, realizing he was thirsty beyond words he stumbled to the sink and drank from the faucet with cupped hands. Finally feeling some semblance of life the dark haired scout glanced around their surroundings,

"Err...where are we?" Smiling Carth helped him to the kitchen table while offering Devon a cheap ale from the conservator, he gulped it down happily as Carth said,

"Taris, when the Endar Spire got cored we tailed its descent and crashed into the upper city, lucky us, undercity is bad news, anyway I was able to drag you and our gear to this abandoned apartment before the Sith made land fall, been laying low since." Nodding to himself Devon sat a moment then sighed while fiddling around with the empty ale bottle,

"So whats our next move? I'm a scout I'm trained to reconnoiter an area then get out, not sure how much use that'll be here." Snorting at that Carth took a drink from his own bottle,

"I watched your progress through the ship on the security terminals, I'm ecstatic to have you on my side you're an amazing fighter, though using your comrade as a distraction to blow up that Sith was rather cruel but I know as well as you did that he was dead anyway, we'll just say I'm keeping you on probation for a bit." Tossing the empty to the floor Onasi kicked his feet up onto the table while leaning back in his chair, "Currently the planet is being blockaded by Darth Malek, he's had to stretch his resources pretty thinly to manage that since last I heard Darth Karious made off with nearly half the fleet and initiated comm silence, so either he's going to try and pull the same shit he tried at Telos before Revan cleaved his jaw off or he'll have to bug out."

Devon hummed a note while processing this as Carth continued, "Way I figure it we need to find our mission commander, Jedi by the name of Bastila Shan, from what I've gathered she's a bit full of herself but strong, battle mediation and all that Jedi nonsense, why Malek is so desperate to catch or kill her." Cocking his head Devon goggled for a moment,

"Shit she was a Jedi? Man...well suddenly I'm curious what she could have done to me if she'd let loose," Looking at the younger man in confusion Carth just shrugged while standing up.

"Well get geared up and we'll do a bit of recon, I hope you don't mind me taking your jacket, it'd probably just get in your way as a sword fighter and Republic orange is a little on the noticeable side," Waving at the Captain dismissively Devon equipped his pistols and swords but decided against bringing his acquired lightsabers, now geared he followed the now trench coated soldier out of their borrowed apartment. The first thing they were confronted with was a pair of haggard looking Duros being harassed by a Sith Officer and a pair of droids, the sneering human was making demands when one of the Duros' angrily yelled back.

Annnd with that they murdered the poor bastard right there, still sneering at the survivor the Sith was about to finish him off when he heard a cough behind him, spinning around he saw two bearded men with guns drawn aiming at his head, with four quick shots the officer and droids were down.

"Well, eventful right out the door eh?" Nodding to the Captain Devon searched the bodies taking their rifles and the officers wallet, acknowledging the Duros' thanks and accepting that he'd get rid of the bodies the pair made their way outside shortly after hawking their stolen goods to an illegal vendor. Staring up into the smoggy sky Devon rubbed his face in annoyance,

"Why can't these galactic events happen some place that doesn't smell like a foundry making love to a sewage refinery? Like Alderaan, nothing ever happens on Alderaan." Rolling his eyes at his companion Carth motioned forward making sure to give their now gutted escape pod a wide berth.

"Come on we'll check the local cantina, worst case scenario we waste some of our ill begotten gains looking for information" Glancing to the Captain Devon asked,

"And best case scenario?" Smiling Carth stuck his hands in his pockets and began walking,

"Best case scenario we _find_ information while scamming the local card sharks out of their credits" Nodding at the amusing logic he followed his superior officer across the promenade. As they entered the high class establishment Devon couldn't help but feel...under dressed, thankfully there was enough off duty Sith mixed in where they didn't look too out of place, taking a place at the bar next to a brunette woman in casual clothes he listened to her yammer to the bartender for a couple minutes, realizing she was a Sith junior officer he bought her a couple drinks and began flirting with her.

"You have an amazingly upbeat attitude Sarna, its a nice change honestly," face lighting up happily she nodded as she drunkenly replied with,

"Yesh! Its all about attitude! I swear if I didn't try to keep a positive outlook while we have to go searching for those damn escape pods in the undercity I'd go mad!" Smiling as he bought her another drink he asked,

"Oh whats so special about that?" Frowning in frustration the brunette sighed unhappily,

"Some jedi bitch was on one of the pods that went down there and Darth Malek wants her bad, but its a mess, we can't get access to the lower city without our uniforms but the second the gangs see us in them they try and shoot us!" Giving her a concerned look he said "Oh my," Continuing on she nodded, "I know right? So we keep losing people to gangs, rakghouls and who knows what else, so I get drunk."

Smiling at him again she pulled herself into Devon's lap while cooing "You're a really good listener you know that?" And with that she kissed him passionately if a bit sloppily, staring at him with slightly glazed eyes she gave him a coy smirk, "Hey bunch of us are having a party tonight, try to unwind a bit, wanna come?" Returning her grin he said said of course and got the address.

As he made his way to a rather pleased looking Carth a prissy woman walked up to him and pushed him in the chest, with a sneer she said,

"There you are, where's my drink? The service here is terrible!" Looking at the snobby woman incredulously he glanced about looking for an out, not finding one he shrugged and said,

"I don't work here and even if I did I wouldn't serve a self entitled egocentric little trollop like yourself anyhow, now get out of my way before I stun you and throw you in a closet." Gasping at his rudeness she ran away screaming how she was going to tell her daddy, shaking his head in exasperation he sat beside the Captain who had amassed a rather impressive stack of credits, handing the address to Carth he grinned, "Got a location on the other escape pods, a method to get down to them, and means to get there incognito...oh I also got a date." Grinning around his cigar the Captain shook his head ruefully,

"A scout indeed, all right lets get this show on the road."

* * *

**I liked the idea of a slightly dark but mostly grey Revan being surprisingly affable, it just seems like something that would happen if he was hanging out with Meetra, Zayne, and Jarael for a few years of war. Obviously with the tempering presence of Zayne and Jarael alot of events didn't occur the way they were supposed to, case in point Carth's family and world are still happily in one piece so he's more like his comic persona, honorable, kinda funny and alot more laid back.**


End file.
